Here’s my situation. I recently moved to where I can’t get a signal for Directv due to an abundance of trees. The fact that a national programming provider can be thwarted by a tree or a rain cloud is quite ridiculous, but I digress. I figured all is not lost due to their new NFL To-Go option, which you’ve no doubt seen comically advertised on tv with people happilly watching their games on their notebooks, phones and iPads. Well let me tell you, that, like much of what’s on tv, is pure fiction.

Let me walk you through my first experience with this “service”. I connect my MacBook Pro to my HDTV via HDMI (analog audio via headphone jack) and there’s the site. Very simple. I clicked on the link for my game and got the message saying that the streams don’t start until 15 minutes prior to kickoff. Ok fine, I can live with that, so I held off until 10 minutes before kickoff and clicked the stream.

Stream Not Available

Ok, maybe they need more time. I click the other games and get the same thing until I click the Chicago-Dallas link and there’s the Fox pre-game clowns chatting away. I must admit that although there was some pixelation here and there and the edges of graphics lacked full anti-aliasing, it looked pretty damn good and smooth, with no hiccups. I know they claim HD quality for the streams, but I was skeptical. Seeing this just got me more anxious and excited for my game’s stream to start. Too bad I’d be waiting longer than I thought.

Stream Not Available

Look, the Chiefs scored! Too bad by “look” I mean look at the score in the browser window change and not look at the actual play happen because the damn stream wasn’t available. In fact, only 3 streams worked for the next 90 minutes or so and of course my game wasn’t one of them. Naturally I called Directv to see what was up and got some customer service clown who simply read stock info to me and was no help until he FINALLY said, “I’m going to connect you to technical support” but before I could even utter a laugh in light of the time wasted with someone who wasn’t qualified to assist me, he asked, “did I answer your questions today to your satisfaction?” “Of course you haven’t” I said, “that’s why you have to connect me to someone else who supposedly can!”

Stream Not Available

The tech guy admitted they were having trouble but promised to have them up in 20-30 minutes so I waited, thankfully finding an internet radio station which was broadcasting the game (free of charge, btw). Finally, a bit into the the third quarter, my game stream appeared. Joy! But then…….. so I immediately….. but of course…… which REALLY made me want to…… then the blood….

What I’m trying to relay to you was what it was like watching the game once it finally was available. Every 3-5 seconds the stream froze for 2-3 seconds. Yeah, try watching a game like that. It’s fucking impossible. I don’t know what to do at this point since this is the only option currently available to me for watching the games live (legally) at home, and with the initial Chicago-Dallas stream, they showed they could broadcast a smooth, non-freezing stream at decent quality. So now what? I don’t know, but when they come looking for payment, I’d like them to receive the following message from my credit card…

8005 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Fyoumademesayit.com%2F2010%2F09%2F20%2Fdirectv-fails-to-deliver-with-nfl-to-go%2FDirectv+fails+to+deliver+with+NFL+To-Go2010-09-20+21%3A14%3A20PhillyChiefhttp%3A%2F%2Fyoumademesayit.com%2F%3Fp%3D800 to “Directv fails to deliver with NFL To-Go”

I'm assuming you've had several weeks of follow-up experimentation with this system. Any improvement? It would be a shame for you not to finally get the Chiefs when they are more than slightly competitive. Even that loss to the Colts was impressive. No one has come close to holding Manning down like that this year. He was off to his best start ever, and we both know that's saying a lot. Plus it was IN Indy. Hope you are getting your feed now.

For the most part, it's working now. The only strange thing is having the game on two screens, the tv and my laptop.

The defense is a complete surprise to me this year. The secondary has been great and we have some decent LBs, but the DEs have been pretty bad and there's no DT to speak of. Then Romeo comes in and suddenly what seemed like wasted #1 draft picks like Dorsey and Jackson are suddenly studs, along with some undrafted guys like Gilberry. It amazes me that unless properly coached, these guys will just suck.

What's not a surprise is the offense. Cassel sucks, and it's apparent that the coaches really don't trust him to make a play so they don't have him pass much unless they have to, like trying to make a endgame comeback (which he can't do). To make matters worse, our stud WR for the second season now seems to have forgotten how to catch a football. A dropped TD pass and a missed opportunity on 4th down by Cassel early (dumbass ignored the wide open TE RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM in order to throw to the triple covered guy) are what lost the game.

What's wrong with the Pack now? Chicago? Really? With the no chin Cutlet?

Fortunately, I don't have to pay for espn3.com, but I think the result is similar…well, really, it's probably worse. The video and audio don't match, which isn't a huge deal when you're watching the game, but it makes the commentary undeniably unbearable, whereas before it was just really irritating. The streaming hiccups all over the place (including a touchdown run that got called back on my Jackets) and super awesome adverts that repeat over and over.

At least I got to watch us get our bowl eligibility. Next week I can watch us get our asses kicked in Athens. *le sigh* Rebuilding years suck.

Not having audio and video in synch could get old quick. I'd love to listen to the KC radio station while watching the game, but they're never in synch. I think there's a deliberate delay in tv to prevent that.

I did have a problem a few weeks ago, but rebooting the modem fixed the issue so I can't fault Directv for that. For the most part now, they're delivering.